


Love is Deaf

by Fooking_Loosah



Category: Larry Stylinson - Fandom, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Fingering, Deaf Character, Drunk Blow Jobs, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Kissing, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Frat Boy Liam, Frat Boy Louis, Frat Boy Zayn, M/M, Party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23580871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fooking_Loosah/pseuds/Fooking_Loosah
Summary: Harry Styles is a 17 year old high school student. At age 12 Harry experienced the sudden loss of his hearing. He can talk, just not as good as others. He talks a bit loud and thick tongued, almost like a broken record. One day his best friend Niall Horan Invites him to a frat party thrown by the 19 year old Louis Tomlinson. Harry doesn't like parties  at all, he doesn’t know anyone there, no one knows how to properly communicate with him and he hears nothing, no music, no talking. Nothing. So when Harry bumps into Louis again, he signs his sorry to Louis. Then he just keeps on walking, not paying attention to anyone.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan/Zayn Malik
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	1. The Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer
> 
> This story has a deaf main character. I did some googling to see what kind of things were possible around becoming deaf slowly over a longer period of time. I personally have no experience with deaf people and how they communicate ow whatsoever. The ways to communicate I’m gonna use mainly in this story will be sign language (for as far as I can tell you about it), lip reading and writing sentences down on either paper, a phone or whatever it can be written on at that point. These will variate throughout the story. I don’t know a lot about sign language nor do I know a lot about lip reading, if there are mistakes in the story please let me know so I can change that. 
> 
> I am in no way trying to offend or disrespect anyone who’s deaf or either is experiencing the disability I’m writing about. 
> 
> Have fun reading!!

Harry woke up to the bright sunlight shining through his curtains. He forgot to close them the night before. He went to bed with a book and apparently fell asleep, he guessed from the open book lying on his chest. He put his book on his bedside table, he had school later that day and it was still pretty early, so that meant he woke up early enough to go for a run.  
He got out of bed and got dressed in a pair of sport shorts and a sweater.

He kissed his mum goodbye real quick and told her he was going for a run. Before he went out he grabbed a breakfast bar from the counter. 

He closed the door behind him and headed towards the park not too far from his house. It was an okay morning. It was warm and the sun was shining bright. He felt like it was going to be a good day.

After about twenty minutes of running he took a small break. He walked towards a bench not too far away from him. He sat down and scrolled on his phone for a bit. When he stood up he didn’t notice there was someone coming from the left. They bumped into each other and Harry was shocked. He started at the slightly smaller boy in front of him. Blue eyes wide from the shock of bumping into Harry, a long fringe laying on his forehead. Harry gave the boy a small smile and said his sorry, a bit louder than he anticipated to do. He noticed by the smaller boy squinting his eyes a bit. 

“Sorry, I didn’t see you.” He said, trying to be less loud. He signed along with what he was saying. “I’m Harry.” 

The smaller boy looked at him in disbelieve. He tried to think of a respectful way to ask the taller boy whose name apparently is Harry, if he was deaf.

“Hi. I’m Louis!” Louis said slowly. “I see that you’re singing with your hands. Do you have bad hearing?” Louis hoped Harry understanded what he was trying to say. He tried doing some hand movements with his talking to maybe make it a bit easier for Harry to understand him.

“Could you maybe sign your name? If you can’t do sign language you don’t have to do it in sign language but like, just in letters with your fingers?” Harry asked politely. A small, almost apologetic smile on his face. 

Louis nodded his head, he didn’t know sign language, but he was going to try and sign his name in an easier way. With his right hand he formed an L with his thumb and index finger, then he made an O, he put his thumb and index finger in the air trying to form a U, didn’t go as well as he wanted but he got there. He put his index finger up to make the I. Lastly he made the S by putting his right thumb on his left index finger and making sidewards U’s, hoping Harry would understand what he meant. after Louis finished his name gave harry a small smile.

“Louis?” Harry questioned carefully. Louis nodded and put his thumb up. “Oh and to answer your question, if I read your lips right. Yes I have bad hearing. I’m fully deaf actually.” Harry said, staring down at his shoes. “I have to go, I have classes in a few hours. I should get back home. Again I’m sorry for bumping into you. Nice to meet you Louis, see you around?” Harry said while already walking backwards, away from Louis.

Louis nodded and went ahead to finish his morning run.

Harry returned home and went upstairs for a quick shower. He went into the bedroom and took off his clothes, thinking of th small boy named Louis from the park. Did he live in the neighbourhood? Did he go to Harry’s school? Would Harry see him again? 

After his shower Harry wrapped a towel around his waist and hair. Back in his room he got himself some clothes to wear for that day and checked his phone again. It was currently 10:37. His first class started at 12:00 today so he had plenty of time left since college wasn’t a too long bus ride. 

Harry went downstairs to get a proper breakfast. His cat laid down on the chair next to where he sat down. Harry saw his mum coming up to him she signed “What time does your bus go sweetheart?” He quickly checked his phone and told her the bus leaves in about 45 minutes. She nodded and stood next to him for a little while, eventually she offered him a ride to school. He gave his mum a smile and gave her a hug.

“That would be great, mum.” He said to her with a soft expression on his face. His mum offered him a small smile back. 

Louis gets back at the frat house and hears a loud bang the second he opens the door. He looks around, when he doesn’t see anything he decides to walk up the stairs. When he is almost all the way up the stairs he sees his make Zayn standing in the middle of the hallway.

“Yo, what was that.” he asks Zayn, who turns around quickly. Louis keeps walking to his own room and opens the door. He stands in the opening of his door for a second.

“Am I gonna get an answer or are you just gonna look at me and not say anything? What was that sound man?” Louis asks.  
“I didn’t know you were out. Uhm, hi. And that sound was me, Joe threw me out of his room although he agreed with me crashing on his couch last night. But since he doesn’t remember saying that he threw me out.” he shrugs as he walks to Louis’ room. Louis stops him right before he walks in.

“Okay but did he say you could crash on his couch last night or did he not?” Louis asks. 

Zayn looks him straight in the eyes. “He didn’t but I didn’t really think he’d care much you know?........ I guess he did though.” Louis’ eyes follow Zayn into his room. 

Louis closes the door and drops onto his bed.

“Okay mate, real quick yeah? You do know you have a room in this frat house yourself right? You know the one two doors from here? The one next to Liam?” Louis says with a confused look on his face.

“Yeah I know, I picked it out myself. It’s just sometimes it gets a little, like, lonely you know.” he responds while looking at his best friend with puppy eyes.

“Oh fuck off Malik.” he huffs as he rolls his eyes. He gets off his bed and takes off his running clothes. He decides to take a short shower since he has classes to attend in about half an hour.

He walks out of the bathroom and sees he has 20 minutes till class. He searches for his bag when he hears a deep snore coming from his couch. He sighs and grabs a pillow from his bed and throws it to Zayn who fell asleep.

“Malik are you fucking serious? We have classes to attend. Although we may not like them we have to go.” He says while throwing his bag over his shoulder. 

“Do you have double books and a spare laptop I can borrow? I have classes too.” Zayn says.  
Louis looks at him with a disappointed look on his face. 

“Zayn your room is TWO DOORS away from here. Get your arse off my couch and get them yourself.” Zayn sighs and gets off the couch. Louis opens the door for him, before Zayn walks out he ruffles up Louis’ hair, Louis pushes him and goes back into his room. 

Not too long after, Louis arrives at campus. There’s not too much people walking around since it’s still kind of early, he has a tutoring hour right now otherwise he would be walking here an hour later. Fucking chemistry, he thinks to himself.

He gets a tea at the school campus starbucks and gets himself to the library. He gets his phone out of his pocket when he hears his ringtone. He looks at the screen and sees that it’s liam who’s calling him. He presses the green button and brings the phone to his ear.  
“Ay Payno, what’s up?” he keeps walking to the library for his tutoring hour.

“Nothing much, nothing special at least. Uhm, I called because I woke up this morning with an amazing idea.” when Liam said that Louis know where this was going, a party.

“Oh yeah Liam? Well tell me what is that amazing plan of yours?” Louis asked him with a sarcastic tone. 

“A party! Tomorrow night at the frat house. It’s been a while since we had a proper party, like a big party.” Liam was right, it had been a while since the last big party they had. At least a few weeks. Louis didn’t have to think twice about that.

“Yeah sounds good mate! What's gonna be happening? Who’s gonna get the booze and how are we gonna invite enough people on such short notice?” That was actually something Liam didn’t properly think about. 

Liam suggested he’d invite some people of a nearby college, he knew a few people there who could spread the word. Liam told Louis that he was gonna get the booze himself if Louis could text thim with what he should get. Louis agreed with Liam and hung up the phone after a little small talk. He then arrived at the library, he looked around and spotted his tutor. 

Harry’s mum Anne gave him a ride to school around 11:30. Harry arrived a little too early, just so he had enough time to walk to his locker and drop some books first. When he sat down to get to his locker, all the way on the bottom he saw a shadow lingering over him. He looked up and saw his best friend Niall. Niall tried to sign the causal hello and how are you but he still wasn’t too good at it. Harry did understand what he meant because he talked along with it so Harry could read his lips. 

“Hi Niall, good to see you. I’m doing okay.” Harry said and he gave Niall a smile. Niall smiled back and Harry closed his locker. He got his bag of the ground and stood back up, almost losing his balance, Niall grabbed his arms and held him till he was able to stand up properly again. All of a sudden Harry saw everyone walking into different directions, that must have meant that the school bell rang. He grabbed Niall's shoulder and Niall guided him through the mass amount of people in the halls. They then arrived at their classroom and went in.

When the class was dismissed Harry and Niall walked out of the classroom. Niall took Harry to the side of the hallway so they could stand still without being pushed over.

“Leonore just passed me a note in class.” Niall said, talking slowly so Harry could read his lips carefully. “I read the note,” Harry nods “It says that there’s a party tomorrow night, at a frat house close by.” Harry’s eyes go wide and he shakes his head.

“No.” The only thing he says is no. He doesn’t like party’s at all. There’s no point for him to be there, there’s music on, which he can’t her. There’s people there whomst he doesn’t know. He is shy so won’t be able to get into a kind of conversation with someone. Everything about this idea screams no. 

“Come one mate.” Niall says. Niall is practically on his knees. “You haven’t been to a party in forever….. It’s a friday…… Hot and cute frat boys will be there……. Please?” Niall beggs him. Harry keeps looking at him with a not amused look on his face.

“I don’t know Niall, you know I am not the party type. Whose party is it?” Harry asks. Niall thinks for a second and comes to the conclusion that he doesn’t know their name.  
After a little considering Harry ended up agreeing to go with Niall if Niall would try to stick with Harry. Not the whole time, but at least till Harry was comfortable enough to stay on his own. Niall thought that was a reasonable agreement and nodded.

Harry still wasn’t too excited, but he said he would so he has to go. He didn’t want to disappoint Niall and maybe it was actually a good idea to go out after such a long time. The last time he went to a party that wasn’t for anyone’s birthday or wedding, was when he was 14. 

And that party definitely didn’t go the way he wanted it too.

He was invited to a party for the first time since he lost his hearing. He knew not being able to hear a thing at a party would be difficult, but there was no harm in trying. So he went. The party was worse than he thought it would. Not a single person payed attention to him. Not even the person that invited him to the party. No one he knew noticed him or at least pretended they didn’t and he wasn’t gonna talk to someone he didn’t know. He went home after an hour of being sad, sitting in the corner of the room with everyone around him playing games and being fun. But not a single person asked him. 

That night he cried himself to sleep. 

He had some time to prepare himself for this party though. It was still a day away, maybe that would calm him down a bit. Or maybe not. He wanted to cancel already and it was still Thursday. He wouldn’t cancel, we wouldn’t because he promised Niall he would go. The only thing giving him a little comfort was the fact that Niall promised to stay by his side till he said he was comfortable enough to be alone. 

He was really hoping this time was gonna be better than the last time. And that was all he could do, hope.


	2. I need to

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer
> 
> This story has a deaf main character. I did some googling to see what kind of things were possible around becoming deaf slowly over a longer period of time. I personally have no experience with deaf people and how they communicate ow whatsoever. The ways to communicate I’m gonna use mainly in this story will be sign language (for as far as I can tell you about it), lip reading and writing sentences down on either paper, a phone or whatever it can be written on at that point. These will variate throughout the story. I don’t know a lot about sign language nor do I know a lot about lip reading, if there are mistakes in the story please let me know so I can change that. 
> 
> I am in no way trying to offend or disrespect anyone who’s deaf or either is experiencing the disability I’m writing about. 
> 
> Have fun reading!!

That Friday morning Louis woke up around 7:30 a.m. normally he would be extremely exhausted. Not that he wasn’t, but it could be way worse. That was because he was excited, he heard a lot of people talking about the party they were throwing that night. Even though the idea to throw a party was on such short notice, they managed to get everything done. There were people invited from his uni but also people from the college in the area were invited to the party. Louis didn’t mind at all, the more the merrier.

The night before, around 11 p.m. Liam and Zayn came into Louis’ room for a game night. They had gotten some snacks from their rooms and took them to Louis, who had a few bottles of beer for them. Liam and Zayn left around 2 a.m. which is why Louis was still not well rested. He went to take a look at his schedule for that day and decided not to go to his first two classes. He got back in bed and set his alarm at 10:30.

Harry was nervous and excited, his heartbeat went up every time someone at school mentioned the party. He tried to talk himself out of it, but Niall was not having it. Apparently more people from his college were going. They weren’t exactly people he knew, but at least there would be a few familiar faces for him. He had had few classes that day and two free periods. 

Harry turned around and saw Niall walking in his direction. There weren’t a lot of people in the hallways since most people had a class then. Niall and Harry had a free period and decided to spend it at a small lunch place in the city. They went there often, even the owner of the place whose name is Paolo knew them already. 

“What can I get you boys today? The same as usual or are we making changes today?” Paolo was behind the counter, he recognized Harry and Niall as soon as they came in. Harry gave the man a bright smile. Paolo promised him to start and learn sign language. He signed a bit of the question at Harry.

“You’re actually learning it?” Harry said with a shy but fond smile on his face.

“Yeah, of course why wouldn’t I.” Paolo said slow enough for harry to read and for himself to try and sign a few words. 

“It’s good.” Niall said “Maybe even better than mine ‘cause I just forget everything. It’s my luck that I still know what ‘hey how are you’ is.” Paolo laughed.

“We’ll have the same as always today, but not as much chips as you gave us last time. Was a lot.” Harry said and Paolo nodded. 

Harry and Niall found a place to sit. The space got more crowded every five minutes. It was a bit after noon and people had to get their lunches and this was one of the best places in the city.

“Are you excited for tonight Haz?” Niall asked Harry after he nudged his leg under the table.

“Hmm, not really. I’m still not really feeling it.” Harry didn’t want to say it. He wanted to pretend he was going to have fun that night, but he just couldn’t. He had to tell Niall how he really felt. Maybe Niall would say that they didn’t have to go, that he wanted to stay at home, play video games. 

“I understand.” Niall said, trying to sign along with his words. It wasn’t quick, but he was getting there. “I would say I know how you feel but I have never been deaf you know.” Harry laughed. “But wouldn’t you like to at least try? It has been years Haz, you rarely go out with me and my friends and you don’t have much friends you go out with yourself.” 

There were a few seconds of silence before Harry came up with something to say. He knew Niall was right, and he didn’t want to go out. He really didn’t, but maybe it wasn’t a case of wanting, but more a case of needing to go out. Because when he started to think about it even more he realised that not only does he just go to birthdays and weddings but he is also always with his mum and sometimes his sister.  
Niall was right, he could at least try. Not only for Niall but also for himself. If he ws gonna have a fun time that would mean that he could go out more often. It would make him feel better than constantly sitting in his room, reading a book, making his homework or just staring at his TV without actually paying attention to it. 

“You’re right Ni. I don’t want to, but I need to. I have to try because otherwise I will never go to a party like this ever again.”

As Harry was talking Paole brought their plates to their table. Niall immediately started eating his chips, Harry kept talking.

“But Niall, please promise me,” the look on his face became more serious. Almost intimidating. “promise me that you will not leave me until I say you can? Because I may be going, but that doesn’t take away the fact that I’m scared Ni.” Niall nods, he seems to be thinking about what he’s gonna say. He ends up slowly signing “I promise.” to Harry. A small smile forms itself on his face. 

Niall ends up paying for both of their lunches. After that they decide to walk around the city a bit longer and get the bus a bit later. Harry stays surprisingly silent for most of the ride back, Niall doesn’t think too much of it but the knows, he knows why Harry is still not happy. He really doesn’t want to go to this party, but he said it himself, he needs to. 

“Thank you.” Harry whispers when they get out of the bus. Niall grabs Harry’s shoulders and pulls him into a hug. 

It’s many classes and hour later when Harry texts Niall to meet him outside school. He doesn’t know why, he just has to go through everything for that evening once more. He wants to be sure that everything is gonna be fine. Because he may seem fine but he is far from. He is excited but he is freaking out. Niall will probably hate him when he says he doesn’t wanna go one more time but he’s gonna risk it. Maybe Niall will say he doesn’t have to go this time? Probably not. 

Niall puts his hand on Harry’s shoulder from behind which makes him flinch. Niall bursts out in loud laughter. Harry stands there for a few minutes, watching with a blank expression on his face, well maybe he is smirking a little but it wasn’t that funny. Niall just keeps laughing, until he falls over and stops. He looks up at Harry and puts his hand up as a sign for Harry to pull him off the ground.

They decide to walk to a picnic table a few feet away from the entrance of the school. The first few seconds are silent, Niall isn’t saying anything because he knows what Harry is gonna say. Harry isn’t saying anything yet either. He wants to think whatheś gonna say through. He needs to show Niall how much it actually bothers him, and what exactly bothers him. Why he is scared, he told him of course but he needs to make it more clear. Make Niall understand him and see him.

“So” Harry starts. “I wanted to talk to you one more time.” He looks down at his hands and starts playing with the hem of his shirt. “I’m just nervous, I can get it out of my head, I have to socialise with people who have no idea who I am. They have no idea what’s wrong with me and they probably don’t care either. So when someone would come up to me and I’d tell them they’ll probably go away again because they think they won’t be able to communicate with me. That’s what scares me Niall. And it really scares me, it’s not a small thing for me, it’s a big step. You’re still my only friend after years Niall. And that is because YOU came up to ME. I wasn’t planning on making any friends, I have no idea how to tell people what is wrong with me. And I have no idea how they will respond. And I really don’t know what I want because as I said earlier ” Harry pauses for a second to stop himself from rambling even more. “Because as I said earlier, I think I need to go although I don’t want to.”

Harry looks up at the ceiling, still twisting, crumpling and folding the hem of his shirt. He shakes his head and lets out a deep breath.

“I just don’t know what I want Niall.” He looks back at Niall. “I just don’t…….. know.”  
Niall locks eyes with Harry and looks at him for a moment. Thinking about what Harry just confessed to him. He has told Niall a few times before but this time seems different. He actually looks sad and scared. He thinks there’s something wrong with him for God's sake. Does he really think that? Does Harry really think that there’s something wrong with him because he’s deaf?

“Do you think that?” Niall decides to ask. Harry looks confused. “Harry be honest with me right now.” He leans a bit forward and puts his elbow on the hard, wet wood of the picnic table. “Do you think that there’s something wrong with you?” With furrowed eyebrows Niall stands up to sit next to Harry. 

“Harry there is absolutely nothing wrong with you being deaf.” Harry bites on his bottom lip. Niall knows he doesn’t want to have this conversation with him. He never intended to have that conversation with anyone, it just slipped out. “You couldn’t do anything about it and even if you could it’s not something bad.” Harry nods. “Yes, sometimes it may be hard for you, probably most of the time. And especially with things like this, but if you keep distancing yourself from everything and everyone because you’re scared they won’t understand, you’ll feel left out from everything.” Niall’s piercing blue eyes look straight into Harry’s green ones. He slowly sees that Harry is tearing up again. It’s a sensitive subject for him and that’s totally understandable.

Niall tries to comfort him a bit for the next ten minutes when Harry finally makes up his mind. He closes his eyes for a second to rethink it once more, he probably shouldn’t but he does. He wants to be 100% sure of the decision he’s gonna make. 

Harry pulls out of Nialls hug and opens his eyes. He looks to the left, only to find a small group of people sitting in a circle on the grass. They look like they’re having fun, they look happy. Harry wants to try, he wants to try going to the party, he is 100% sure of it. If those people can be happy in a group of people maybe it isn’t so hard. Maybe making friends isn’t as hard as he thinks, if you’re friends with someone they appreciate you for who you are, they help you, they have fun with you and they make you happy. Harry wants that.

“I have two things to say.” So he’s really gonna do thins. “One, you signed your little pep talk perfectly! I am so proud of you!” Niall gives him a small smile and signs ‘Thank you’ “Thing two is uhm, about the party.” Niall raises his eyebrows in curiosity. “I wanna try it. I wanna have fun and not sit in my room on my own for once.” A big smile formed itself on Harry’s face while he was talking. When he finishes the sentence Niall immediately pulls him in for another hug. 

“Well you are quite the hugger today. What has gotten into you?” Harry asks.

“I’m just really proud of you Haz. And I mean that, I really think that it’s a good decision to go to the party, but if you were to say no in the end I really wouldn’t have blamed you”  
Niall decides to offer Harry a ride home. Harry doesn’t live too far from him and he doesn’t wanna send him onto a bus in this emotional state.

“Do you want a ride home? You can put some music on if you want today. I broke my radio the other day though, so you’ll have to connect to my speakers instead but that won’t be a problem right?” Harry loves to put on the music in Niall's car. His speakers have an amazing vibration which makes Harry able to feel his favorite songs. Niall puts the speakers on a loud volume, that way Harry can put his hand on the speaker and feel the bass and rhythm of the music. He remembers some of the lyrics from back in the day when he could still actually hear his music. That may also be the reason his music isn’t new, he has songs he grew up with on his phone to play so he recognises them. Songs like ‘The Chain’ and ‘Go Your Own Way’ by Fleetwood Mac, ‘Your Song’ by Elton John and ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder are all on his playlist. Today he decides to go for his favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and get a bit calmed down.

They drove around a bit longer than normally because Niall didn’t want to leave Harry on his own right now because he was still a bit sad. It took them twenty-five minutes to get to Harry’s house, and although it was ten minutes longer than it would normally take, he doesn’t really mind. He likes being with Niall at the moment, he didn’t want to be left alone yet because he needed a friend. And since he only had Niall as a friend there was only one person to go to. 

Harry gets out of the car and walks up his driveway. Before he opens the door he turns around to see if Niall was waiting in his car, watching him get inside the house safely. And he was, it wasn’t dark outside and it was only a few steps to his front door but he waited till he was inside. 

“Text me more information when you get home okay? And drive safe. Promise?” Harry asked Niall. Niall nodded and put his pinky in the air as a of pinky promise. “Thank you.” Harry said, “You helped me a lot today and I don’t know what I would do without you.” Niall signed him a very calm ‘don’t worry, that’s what friends are for.’ to Harry. Niall waved and drove off. 

Louis had the worst day at school, when he got back in his room that afternoon he was so damn tired that he just went ahead and took a nap of an hour. He woke up around 5:30pm and smelled food, he sat straight up in bed and as if it was planned Liam and Zayn walked into his room with three pizza’s. They talked a bit about the party that wasn’t too long from the moment he looked at the time on his phone. He was getting more excited, he was thinking of what to wear, the perfume he was gonna wear, how he was gonna style his hair. He has no idea why he is so excited, maybe because it’s been a while since they had a proper party and he was ready for this one to pop off.


	3. That was unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer
> 
> This story has a deaf main character. I did some googling to see what kind of things were possible around becoming deaf slowly over a longer period of time. I personally have no experience with deaf people and how they communicate ow whatsoever. The ways to communicate I’m gonna use mainly in this story will be sign language (for as far as I can tell you about it), lip reading and writing sentences down on either paper, a phone or whatever it can be written on at that point. These will variate throughout the story. I don’t know a lot about sign language nor do I know a lot about lip reading, if there are mistakes in the story please let me know so I can change that. 
> 
> I am in no way trying to offend or disrespect anyone who’s deaf or either is experiencing the disability I’m writing about. 
> 
> Have fun reading!!

That afternoon around 5:00pm Niall texted him with the time he would be in front of his house to pick him up, and the dress code. There wasn’t really a dress code but Harry had to keep in mind that it was a frat party and that his daily clothing maybe was a bit too fancy for those. 

He decided on a white t- shirt with a blue-black squared blouse over it, some black skinny jeans and a pair of black sneakers. He pushed his hair back in a quiff and ruffled up the sides of his hair. He brushed his teeth too, you never know what is gonna happen at a party like this so he’d better be prepared.

When he got his phone out of his pocket he saw Niall texted him that he was on his way. The text was from a few minutes ago so Niall could be there any minute. 

Harry had to wait a few more minutes and then decided to put on his shoes and jacket. As if it was planned the bell rang the second harry was done with putting on his jacket. Harry opened the door and Niall stood leaned back against his car a few feet away. Harry screamed goodbye to his mum from the front door and walked outside. He locked the door behind him and got to the car.

“Hi Niall, how are you?” Harry went into the passenger's seat of the car. Niall’s car smelled new, which wasn’t weird. Niall just got his license a few weeks ago and then he got the car for his birthday. Niall was one year older than Harry, in this case that was fun, Harry could get a ride from Niall anywhere at any time. Niall said it himself.

“I’m excited Harold.” Harry’s eyebrows shot up. “I haven’t been to a party in ages. We’re gonna have an amazing time and I’m gonna make sure that you’re gonna have a good time too. I promise.

Harry gave Niall a comforting smile and told him to drive already otherwise they’d be late.

When they arrived in the street where the frat house was located they could see there was a big party going on inside. Lots of cars outside, lots of people smoking weed, drinking alcohol, playing games, making out, a real frat party.

Niall nudged Harry’s shoulder so he would look at him. “Are you ready? Or do you wanna stay in the car a bit longer?” Harry stared out of the car window, he saw lots of people, they were all laughing and having fun. He took a deep breath and gave Niall a single nod and opened the door on his side of the car. Niall stepped out with a surprised look on his face. His head popped out above the car when he got out and he gave Harry a weird look followed by a smile.  
“I’m ready, it looks fun, everyone is having fun. Let's go.” Harry tried to play it cool. Inside his head all the thoughts about people not liking him came back but they were gone in the blink of an eye.

He should just stop worrying about it, everything will be fine. He’s gonna be fine. Maybe he’ll make some new friends, maybe he’s gonna have the time of his life. And if he won’t, well then they’d just go home and chill out at either Niall's house or Harry’s house, but that wasn’t going to be necessary. 

He was gonna be alright. He told himself that a thousand times today and this is the moment it matters the most. He kept repeating the words in his head, he had to keep reminding himself of the fact that he was. gonna. be. okay. 

Then Niall stopped walking. Right in front of them was the frat house, Harry has never been to a frat house. It looks . Harry took a few deep breaths and looked at Niall. Slowly opening the door, Niall was already smiling from ear to ear. He really was that excited, huh. And then Harry was back at looking down, as if the wooden floor was way more interesting than this party. On second thought maybe it was, who would know. 

Harry looked up and immediately felt like all eyes were on him. He felt a comforting hand on his lower back and looked at Niall. 

“You’re gonna be fine. Come, let’s see if we can get something to drink around here alright?” he pushed Harry forwards and looked around to see if they could get something to drink. 

After wandering around for a bit they finally found the kitchen. There were a lot of different types of alcohol to choose from, Niall grabbed two bottles of god knows what and poured both of the things in one cup and handed it to Harry. Niall put the two bottles aside and made a mixture of a lot of different types of alcohol, he threw in a lime and some ice and chugged half the cup. Harry on the other hand decided to take it slow. 

Once he took a sip of his drink he noticed Niall didn't put any alcohol in for him, yet. It tasted like a mixture of Coca-Cola and something like lemon juice, weird combination but wasn’t bad at all.

Louis was on the dancefloor, Liam and Zayn were dancing along with him to the music. He got a bit closer to Liam and whispered something in his ear.

“Last minute party’s bring the biggest crowds apparently.” He stepped back into his place again and shrugged at Liam. Liam did a quick scan around the room and nodded.

“Yeah well, we normally don’t let the college kids come so maybe that made the difference?” It wasn’t Louis’ idea to invite college students. Not at all, he said he’d rather have a smaller party with the boys in the frat house. Eventually Liam and Zayn knew how to convince him, cute college boys…… His weakness. 

Louis sipped from his red cup, his mouth being filled with the warm feeling of vodka. As soon as it hit his throat he felt it burning. It was only the first drink of the night, and he definitely wasn’t planning on getting pissed. It will probably happen, but the isn’t planning on it. Yet. Not yet. 

The first beats of a new song start playing, Louis doesn’t recognise it and decides to ditch the dance floor for a bit and sit down. A table surrounded by three sofas and a few chairs fills up a big part of the living room. One arm rest as a place to sit, the rest is fully packed. He walks over to see what they’re doing. Standing over one of the people sitting on the chairs he sees a game of cards on the table, about 14 people are playing this game, a few people just watching. The game is, each person grabs one card off the stack, the person who grabs an ace or a joker has to do a dare. Pretty boring game, much more fun if you’re drunk because you get ten times more excited. Louis goes to sit on the empty armrest. People immediately notice his presence and ask him to join in.

Louis shakes his head, “I’m sorry guys, maybe later tonight, I’m not drunk enough yet to play this game. But you go ahead.” everyone laughs. He hears someone saying “You’re right man it’s pretty boring if you only had one beer.” and he smiles to himself. 

“One beer won’t do the job mate, gotta get at least three in your system to at least pretend this is fun. You’ll need more to actually find it fun, but please don’t get pissed and vomit everywhere, put yourself on a limit, thanks.” A few people roll their eyes at him but they know he’s right. He gives everyone a little nod and wave and walks to the kitchen to get himself another drink. The first drink was gone faster than he anticipated to,not that it mattered, it was only his first drink. 

Niall was wondering around just trying to make friends with everyone there while Harry tried to stay with him for most of the time. Harry eventually decided to sit down in the kitchen and just do some stuff on his phone. No one was really talking to him yet but they arrived not too long ago so that was fine. Niall already left him but he assured him that he was coming back in a few minutes.

About 10 minutes went by when Niall came back into the kitchen where he found Harry, still in the same spot playing a game on his phone. Harry noticed him not too long after he came into the kitchen since there were only 3 other people in the kitchen at that point. Niall’s red cup was empty, someone challenged him to down it and as the Irish man he is, he did. Harry’s cup was still half full, though Niall grabbed it off the counter and held it up to ask if he wanted more. Harry nodded his head and told him to just grab a bit more cola for him. 

The kitchen was pretty big, you walk in and have a stove, breakfast bar, sink, cabinet thing going on. A dining table a bit further away and if you walked past the table you could walk into a smaller room on the right, that was where the drinks were made. People walked in and out, in and out, and that repeatedly. It mostly stressed Harry out but at least the space wasn’t fully packed like the living room. 

Niall was probably taking his time making the drinks. He was already gone for another ten minutes even though the drink spot was a ten second walk from the spot Harry was seated. 

He waited a few more minutes before he decided to go look for Niall. He wasn’t gonna go through the whole house, because Niall wasn’t that pissed yet. He didn’t drink enough to already get lost. 

He decided to check the spot where he initially went. The little side kitchen thing on the right side of the actual kitchen and dining space. Hoping he’d find Niall there because he was not up for a night wondering around a big house that he’s never been to before. He got up from the bar stool and slowly stumbled to the side kitchen.

As soon as he walked in he saw Niall leaning against the counter. On the counter were standing two freshly made drinks. Probably one for himself and the other one for Harry. Niall was talking to someone, he knows for a fact that Niall doesn’t know this person and neither does Harry. Harry could only see the back of his head, he tried to figure out if it looked familiar to him in some way. It didn’t. Not that Harry knows a lot of people or something but he knows a few of Niall’s other friends, he doesn’t think this is one of them.

After a couple seconds Niall notices Harry’s presence and waves him over. He walks over to Niall with a slightly panicked look on his face. Wide eyes, mouth shut, head slowly shaking a slight no. He’s hoping for Niall to say he doesn’t have to, that he doesn’t have to talk to this stranger. It doesn’t happen. On the other hand, this person knows Niall a bit by now. Niall probably told him about his deaf friend who came with him. Maybe it won’t be as bad as he thinks.

Harry gets closer and closer until his back is towards the stranger and he’s looking at Niall. Standing slightly in the middle of the two. Niall shoots the stranger a friendly look and signs something to Harry. 

“Haz I’m gonna introduce you to this friendly lad I just met.” Harry gives him a shy nod, back still towards the stranger. “His name is Louis, he’s very nice and not drunk.” 

Louis, that name sounds familiar, Harry thinks. He knows someone with that name, although he can’t picture a person with the name. Maybe he read it in one of his books? Maybe he read the name on TV? 

That doesn’t matter for now, he’s got to take a breath, which he seems to do a lot lately to calm himself down. He’s starting to cope better with his feelings, he’s just nervous. He breathes in, holds it for a few seconds and slowly breathes out. His hands are getting a bit sweaty from the nerves. He wipes his hands off on his pants and turns around.

Louis slowly sees the boy with the curly hair turn around. When he is facing Louis all the way he sees someone he’s met before. The piercing green eyes, his curly brown hair, his long legs. It’s the boy he ran into yesterday morning, in the park. Louis tries to remember the brief conversation they had, they bumped into each other, Louis introduced himself and the boy didn’t understand. There it is, that was the part Louis was looking for in his mind. The boy was deaf.

By the surprised look on the younger boy’s face Louis knows that he didn't expect to see him. Well to be honest, neither did Louis expect to see him but weirdly enough he is happy to see the boy again. 

In fact, he doesn't mind that it's Harry who is in front of him.

He doesn't mind at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer
> 
> This story has a deaf main character. I did some googling to see what kind of things were possible around becoming deaf slowly over a longer period of time. I personally have no experience with deaf people and how they communicate ow whatsoever. The ways to communicate I’m gonna use mainly in this story will be sign language (for as far as I can tell you about it), lip reading and writing sentences down on either paper, a phone or whatever it can be written on at that point. These will variate throughout the story. I don’t know a lot about sign language nor do I know a lot about lip reading, if there are mistakes in the story please let me know so I can change that. 
> 
> I am in no way trying to offend or disrespect anyone who’s deaf or either is experiencing the disability I’m writing about. 
> 
> Have fun reading!!

Louis keeps looking at Harry, waiting for him to show any sign of relief, or something along the lines of that. He’s waiting for him to start the conversation. For him to give him a little smile. Because as Niall already told him, he’s a bit shy. Maybe he’s just taken aback by the fact that Louis is in front of him right now. 

Does he even remember who Louis is? It wouldn’t surprise him if he didn’t.

After a short amount of time that feels like a couple minutes, Louis decides he’s gonna start a conversation himself. 

“Hi you.” Louis gives the boy, he believes his name was Harry, a small reassuring smile. He tries to kind of sign the words hoping he’ll understand them. He quickly turns to Niall and asks him if Harry can read his lips or if he has to sign it out. 

“He can read your lips but I have no idea if he can do that right now because he seems shocked. So if you can try and maybe try to sign your words. I am also willing to try and translate some things into sign language for him.” Louis lets out a deep sigh. He’s glad Niall is willing to help. He has absolutely no experience with sign language so this would be a disaster without him.

“Harry was it?” Louis tries to play it safe first, not ask big questions in case he doesn’t really like louis or something. Maybe it’s all a bit overwhelming for him, Niall told him a few things about Harry not wanting to come because of his disability and being afraid of people not accepting him or something, so Louis keeps it slow. 

Harry glances at Niall before he answers.

“Yes, and you were Louis. We met once already didn’t we?” Harry’s voice was much warmer than Louis remembered, could also be the alcohol since he drank two cups of cola with vodka while he was talking with Niall. 

Harry’s eyes shoot down at the ground and he starts to bite his lip. He looks shy, not scared as Niall said, just shy and quiet. From their quick meeting in the park Louis thought of Harry as a social, very talkative person. Apparently he isn’t, which caught Louis off guard, he wants to make sure Harry is totally comfortable around him and is gonna see him as a friend at the end of the night. Maybe even take a nice party experience with him because he made at least one more friend.

“Yes, we did. In the park yesterday morning.” he looks at Niall to see if he is signing to Harry. Louis sees the many hand movements and knows he is signing something but he wouldn’t know what. He seriously could be telling Harry anything, Louis wouldn’t understand either way.

“So were you invited for this party too?” He shakes his head. 

“No I live here in the frat house!” he says it louder to try and sound enthusiastic, not that Harry would notice but he can try right? He’s trying okay, it’s hard to communicate with someone who almost doesn’t understand you, because they can’t hear you. 

Harry looks at Niall until he is finished with his signing. 

“Do you live in the frat house? Is that what Niall was signing to me?” 

Louis turns to Niall and sees that he’s trying really hard every time. He is probably still learning, but the fact that he can do it is amazing. It looks so hard and just not a thing for Louis. Louis gives Harry a quick nod as confirmation that it was, in fact, what Niall was signing to him

“So did you throw this party then too? Or did your mates throw it or something?” Harry seems to loosen up a bit more every few seconds. He probably realizes that someone is actually socialising with him right now. It’s probably something for him to get used to but that will come later. 

“I threw the party with my two best mates, Liam and Zayn. They should be out there somewhere but I left them half an hour ago or so to watch a bit of the games inside going on and get a new drink.” Louis waits till Niall is done signing that bit of his story and then continues. “Then I bumped into this lovely lad Niall, he’s a great friend man. He told me a bit about you already.” Harry blushes when he processed what Louis said. Harry is now mostly looking at Louis’ lips, more than he’s looking at Niall. Louis tells Niall he and Harry will be okay from here and he can go do whatever he wants to do. 

“Where is Niall going?” The second Niall leaves Harry gets nervous. 

“I told him we could talk on our own for a bit now. Since I noticed you were trying to read my lips more than watching Niall sign.” A ticking noise catches Louis’ attention, it makes the table shake a little bit. He looks under the table, only to find Harry’s long leg moving up and down. 

A quick thought goes through Louis’ mind and before he knows it he leans forward to place his hand on Harry’s knee. Immediately his leg tops twitching.

Harry is now just staring at Louis, just looking. His eyes slowly move from the top of his head down to his chin, and then Harry is back staring at the ground again. Louis has to make him feel comfortable, if he’s gonna continue being shy for the rest of the night he would end up bored and probably sad again. He waits for Harry to look up again, he doesn’t want to force him to look at him. He is planning on taking this talk slow, Harry has to get used to this almost stranger who is suddenly interested in him, he’s just not used to it.

A few minutes go by, Louis’ hand is still on Harry’s knee and weirdly enough Harry lets him. As soon as Harry looks up Louis sees the sadness in his face. He doesn’t want to be shy, he sees it in his eyes, the way he looks at him. The look on his face is not scared, it’s not shy. He almost looks like he feels sorry, maybe he does, feel sorry. But for what? Louis decides he has to get to know Harry better. To get to know him better in order for Harry not to look like he’s gonna apologise in a few seconds.

“I’m sorry.” Louis knew it. Harry’s eyes said it before he did. He felt sorry. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I thought I would be okay, but I don’t think I am.” Harry is about to stand up when Louis tightens his grip on Harry’s knee and scoots a bit closer. Harry looks at him with wide eyes.

“Harry you’re fine. I understand how you feel.” Does he? “Maybe not exactly, but I wasn’t the party animal before either. Not until I went to university at least.” 

The look in Harry’s eyes softened. “I think the fact that you at least tried to come here is a big step. Especially since you have a disability which probably makes it even harder for you.” Harry nodded.

“Thank you. Thank you for not thinking I’m weird.” Louis’ eyebrows shoot up at that last word. Weird? He’s not even close to weird. At this party there are people ten times as weird as he is, if not twenty times worse. 

“You’re not weird. Believe me, I have friends that are extremely weird and you’re not even close to weird compared to them.” Now Louis feels sorry. Harry thinks he’s weird, that's probably why he’s so shy. 

A deep breath out from Harry makes Louis lookup. “I may not be weird to you but to others I am. People don’t talk to me and if they do, when I tell them I’m deaf they just walk away.” A small sigh escapes from Harry’s mouth. 

“Well that's their problem, not yours. You shouldn’t care about that as much as you do. You’re an amazing person for as far as I know, and I would love to get to know you more and become friends.” And finally Harry’s eyes don’t look sad, they look happy. The corners of Harry’s lips went up the tiniest bit, but it didn’t go unnoticed.

When they’re done taking they decide to go onto the dance floor. Harry is very shy at first, but once he sees that no one cares about his weird moves he goes all out. Louis is standing on the side. He looks at Harry with a big smile. 

Harry keeps dancing until everyone around him starts to dance slower, maybe even grab a partner to dance with. The bass of the song he was dancing to also faded from his stomach. You know, when the bass is loud, it feels like your stomach is vibrating along with the bass. That feeling faded. He turned around to look at Louis, as soon as he turned around he saw that he was standing right in front of him. 

Harry looked at Louis, he was looking up at him from under his eyelashes. One hand on his back and one stuck out towards Harry, while being bowed forwards the slightest bit. Harry looked confused, not exactly knowing what was going on.

“Wha- What are you doing?” Louis stood back up and grabbed Harry’s hand, guiding him to the dance floor. Slowly pushing through all the people already dancing. 

“I’m gonna dance with you. Just follow my lead okay?” Louis stopped walking. He grabbed Harry’s other hand and positioned it on his shoulder. He put his own hand on Harry’s hip and their already intertwined hands a bit higher up. “Here we go, you ready?” 

Louis started making small steps left and right, still trying to remain in place as much as possible. Harry kept looking at their feet, trying his best not to step on Louis’ toes. It happened a few times if he’s being honest, he’s just not the dancing type. When it happens they just laugh it off, it’s not a big deal for Louis. He knows he’s trying.

People slowly started to form a circle around them, at least that's what it looked like for Harry. He could be imagining it, but either way it was nice. He loosened his grip on Louis’ hand and put it on his other shoulder. Intertwining his fingers on the back of his neck and making a small step forward.

Since Louis was no longer holding Harry’s hand he put it on his other hip. He thought that, maybe it would feel uncomfortable in some sort of way. It didn’t. 

Then the song stopped. He didn’t want to tell Harry, so they kept dancing. Slowly and steady, swaying left and right. 

“Where is Niall? Have you seen him after he left us?” Louis wakes up out of his trance when he hears Harry’s voice in his ear. 

  
  
  


Louis looks around the room, letting Harry go. Louis doesn’t have to look far, as soon as he looks behind Harry, he sees Niall. He elbows harry in his side and points at Niall. They both look at him, trying to figure out what he’s doing. When they walk up to take a closer look they see another person, standing in the corner while Niall is hovering over them. 

Harry and Louis look at each other, Harry just laughs and Louis goes along with it. Louis tells Harry he’s gonna walk over to see what’s going on there. Before he can walk close enough Niall already steps aside, leaning against the other side of the wall. 

Louis’ jaw drops and he waves Harry over. Niall looks like he’s flirting, with a boy. Not just a boy, but with his best friend. Zayn Malik. 

  
Harry walks to Louis and shrugs. “What? What is he- oh my god.” before he can finish his question he sees what Louis was about to show him. Niall talking to a boy, black hear, some piercings, a good amount of tattoo’s, Harry can’t blame him, he looks amazing.

“Niall is talking to Zayn, Zayn Malik. He is my best friend, he is the person I hosted the party with, wellone out of two.” Harry’s mouth falls open, a small smile pulling up the ends of his mouth.

“Never really thought of Niall as the kind of person to fall for someone who looks like that, I always thought he was the kind to get it on with the preppy boy’s. I guess I was way off there.” Louis can’t seem to do anything but snort. It’s not like he thought Zayn was into boy’s like Niall. Niall is loud, Zayn is definitely not, and that is one of many things, but opposites attract right? 

They walked over to the nearest place to sit. Harry looked at his watch, it was 1:26AM. He was getting tired, but he didn’t expect to see something later than 1:00AM. He wanted to go home but also not interrupt Niall on whatever it may be that he was doing. He looked at Louis, not taking his gaze off of him. Louis looked peaceful, he was watching people play beer pong on the table in front of them. 

Harry grabbed out his phone, ready to text his mum, asking her to pick him up. After that he was going to text Niall, saying he left, because Niall was probably gonna sleep over anyway. He looked over at Niall once more, who was currently making out with the boy whose name was apparently Zayn Malik. 

Niall was definitely gonna sleep over.

Harry was about to start typing his text to his mum when Louis shoved his phone into Harry’s face. Harry looked at the phone, finding a message Louis must want him to read.

**_You want to go home don’t you?_ **

Harry does. He wants to go home and lay in his bed. The party has been enough for him at that point. He’s surprised he even made it this far.

He gives Louis a nod. Louis takes the phone back into his two hands and starts typing away again. After a few seconds The phone is back in front of Harry.

**_Do you want me to give you a ride home? I only had like 2 beers and that has been a few hours ago at this point._ **

He wants to say yes so bad, but he can’t ask such a thing from him. It’s past 1:30AM at that point. He’ll just text his mum to pick him up. It’s easier that way.

Harry takes the phone from Louis’ hand and types a response.

**_That is so kind of you, but I can’t ask that from you. You’re having fun here, I’ll just text my mum don’t worry about it._ **

He hands the phone back to Louis once he’s done. He sees Louis’ face drop once he reads his little message. Louis starts typing again and tilts the phone towards Harry.

**_You didn’t ask… I offered. Now get on your jacket I’m driving you home._ **

Harry decided not to go against it. He was being nice and Harry couldn't exactly complain about someone being nice to him, could he? 

They walked to the hallway to get their jackets, Harry still wasn’t too happy about bothering Louis. He may have said he wasn’t but Louis was being so nice to him this evening, almost like he pitied him. And he didn’t like that.

“Are you sure you want to drive me home? I don’t wanna be a bother of course.” Louis gave him a pat on his back, suggesting to him that he had to walk. Louis opened the door for Harry, and as if he could read Harry’s mind his smile faded a bit. Did Harry do that?

“Harry I really don’t mind. But if you don’t want me to drive you home then just tell me…” Louis’ sighed. “I wouldn’t want to invade your privac-”

“It’s okay, I shouldn’t be such a dickhead about it.” Harry said it before he could rethink it. A smug smile skimming over Louis’ face, probably surprised by Harry using such language.

“Come on curly, don’t worry about it really, I'll take you home.” With that, they went out the door, on their way to Harry’s house.


End file.
